Latest Stock Buy or Sell? Make More Informed Decisions!

One word is chaotic. The other thing is that there was this idea that the world would look very, very different. It was chaotic during that time, with everyone feeling that the world was going to go into recession, inflation would be higher, and economic growth would slow. All those things that economists and such predicted from January to April really didn't happen, especially in the US.

All that filtered into higher stock prices. One of the things that he, too, missed was underestimating just how dynamic the US economy is, with companies able to pivot very quickly when all these things were happening. Yet they still maintained margins and were able to grow earnings. Even though prices were probably going up, they were able to manage that on the margin side -- either by using different suppliers or even putting pressure on suppliers to take some of the burden off prices.

When you look at Covid, a lot of companies were able to do that as well. But we forgot about that, and thought that the new order was going to be terrible. The chaotic part, of course, was that depending what country you were in tariffs went up, then came down, then went up. Also, the bond market put pressure on the administration to say you can't keep doing this and you better do some deals or bring down the tariffs. That helped a lot.

It still is very chaotic. But the follow-through has been very different from people's expectations of where the stock and bond markets would be and where the economy would be.

Thinks it'll be just as volatile. The problem with this administration is that it's very chaotic. There's no presentation of a cohesive economic, foreign, or domestic policy. It all seems very ad hoc, and one thing changes after another.

One of the things that it's very important to look at is that China has way more leverage against the US than vice versa. So they were able to put a lot of pressure on the US. The mechanics of that relationship have to be looked at from a foreign policy perspective. In his view, they've done a terrible job of it. We saw China continue to manufacture like crazy, and manufacturing numbers were off the scale. 

The leverage that they have in critical minerals is very important. We're never going to be able to get to the level that China's at because of the cost and the environmental perspective. Those kinds of minerals are all over the place, but China really focused on that area. They focused on it because they also built out an EV business that uses a lot of those minerals.

He feels that we'll see a lot of the tariff issues and chaotic policies come to fruition in 2026, so we could have a much more difficult year. That's what we'll have to keep an eye on from the perspective of the stock market and the economy. Even the GDP numbers, if you went through them in detail, weren't really all that great.

The last thing is the Fed. To come out and say "If they don't agree with me, I'm not going to be happy" is a terrible thing to say to the economy, the bond market, and the stock market. Lower rates might be good for the stock market, but he thinks the bond market would overreact in a very different way if the Fed is politicized that way.

A lot of these companies talk about dividend growth and increase their dividends on an ongoing basis. Telus is basically stopping that, just keeping the dividend where it is. He rather wishes they'd cut the dividend. That would have been a better move with the stock already having fallen a lot, and it might have bounced back.

The environment for these companies has been very difficult. Fruition of 5G not happening as quickly as people were thinking. CRTC is also very difficult to deal with. This name has developed other businesses which will benefit it, and it's still in his dividend portfolio.

The environment for these companies has been very difficult. He sold at the beginning of this year.

Yes, it's an opportunity to pick it up. Big picture is that the rail businesses are now very consolidated, so they're much better at operations. Better pricing, as they're not constantly competing against each other. Hurt because of tariffs. CP, though, now has a much better footprint than CNR.

Regardless, rail is way better than trucking. Much more environmentally friendly. Once tariff chaos gets resolved, we still need to move things across our country and rail is the best way to do it. People feel that the worst is behind the rails. Commodity prices have moved up, so rails should see better pricing in the next little while. A bargain at these levels.

He's talked about this one many times on the show. Trading at 2.5x book value. More favourable de-regulation under the Trump administration will benefit the banks, though this one may not see a significant jump because it's already so richly valued.

Probably the cheapest of the big money-centre banks in the US, trading below book value. Going through a lot of changes.

He's mentioned this name many times in the past. Trading at 1.89x book value. Banking de-regulation by the Trump administration will benefit the banks. This one may then be able to do an M&A purchase.

Another play for 2026. Lots of regulatory change going on in the US over the next little while. Trump administration wants to take away a lot of the regulation that came in during 2008 with Dodd-Frank. That move would free up a lot of opportunity from a capital perspective. So they could buy back more shares, increase dividends, and have more capital to expand.

We saw a bunch of M&A over the last year, which probably wouldn't have happened under the Biden administration. There are 4,000 banks in the US, it's ridiculous. Consolidating the banking industry would be very good. You could buy a regional bank index and do well over the next little while.

They usually trade at much higher multiples, something like 3x book value. You might actually get to those multiples in the next couple of years. 

Paramount needs the Warner Bros. deal more than NFLX does. Family trust has now been taken out, with Ellison backing the whole thing, so the story becomes more difficult for Warner. From a regulatory view, this would put Paramount in charge of an awful lot of media.

As for NFLX itself, this is the first time it's really bought something; has been homegrown up till now. If they can get this asset, it'll have a much broader and deeper catalogue, as that's what it spends a lot of its money on. Good deal if they can get it. Hollywood hates NFLX, but the reality is that streaming is where movies are going. Hollywood's dying a slow death. 

Multiple's only about 28x, whereas it was previously 100x. If they walk away from the deal, stock will go up. If they do the deal, it'll be great for them in the long run. Great time to be buying. You don't lose too much by dipping in at these levels. May up their bid, and that would hurt the stock a bit. The NFLX bid seems to be Warner Bros' preferred one.

Robotaxi business is a big thing they've emphasized, and will make a big difference over the next year but not as much as people think. By far, the best EV in North America and the most beautiful compared to Ford and GM ugly versions ;) Bigger issue is that it didn't come out with a cheaper car. China's BYD offering is better than TSLA's and cheaper (except with the tariffs, it's not) -- see them in Europe everywhere. 

Stock's been doing better because Elon is spending more time at the company now. Way behind the robotaxi curve compared to Waymo, which is already in so many different cities in the US.

Robots themselves are still a ways down the road. Vehicle margins are going to come down. Expensive stock. Better off buying other things.

(Note the shorter timeframe.)  At the time people were dismissing it, so it was trading at a really low valuation compared to the rest of the Mag 7. Has come back on the AI side, and seeing growth on the ad side. 

(Note the shorter timeframe.)  Has the lead in the pill version of weight loss drug, and really needs to make sure that people are using their pill (before LLY gets there). 

(Note the shorter timeframe.)  Has moved sideways, but should do much better over the next year or two. Still a great business in an oligopoly of three.

Now more focused under new CEO, though will work with other companies to offer its services. Starting to generate better rates of return. Worth looking at. Really well run, cutting lots of costs. Robotaxis will help cost structure -- plus, safer than getting an actual driver (as you don't know if they just broke up with their girlfriend or whatever ;)